A quiet revolution in Bihar is turning into one of India’s most successful grassroots development models. Led by 1.3 crore women, many of them never formally employed, this transformation is driven from Bihar’s smallest panchayats through the state’s flagship rural livelihoods programme: JEEViKA.
The architect in charge of scaling and stewarding this transformation is Himanshu Sharma, IAS, CEO of the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS), which implements JEEViKA. In a conversation with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, he lays out how the programme grew from an experiment into a Rs 1 lakh crore rural economic engine governed, operated, and owned by rural women.
“This is not a welfare scheme. This is about dignity, financial power, and community trust, built from the ground up,” Himanshu Sharma says.
A movement born in crisis, built over time
JEEViKA was launched in 2006 as a pilot initiative with World Bank support under the then Nitish Kumar government. It was a response to entrenched rural poverty, financial exclusion, and the absence of women from economic decision-making.
By 2011, it was scaled under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). What started in 50 blocks now operates across all 534 blocks and every panchayat in Bihar.
Its institutional model is simple but effective: Self-Help Groups (SHGs) of 10–15 women pool savings, lend to each other, and are federated into Village Organisations and Cluster-Level Federations, creating a three-tier structure of financial and social interdependence.
So far in 2025, the programme has created over 10.6 lakh SHGs and reached more than 1.35 crore women, with total credit flows exceeding Rs 78,000 crore.
Banking without banks, collateral, or paperwork
One of JEEViKA’s most radical features is its trust-based lending architecture built entirely without paperwork, collateral, or credit scores.
“A woman walks into her SHG meeting, says she needs Rs 5,000, and it’s approved within minutes—because the group trusts her,” Himanshu Sharma explains.
Unlike conventional banks or even microfinance institutions, SHG loans aren’t delayed by documentation or bureaucracy. They’re processed in living rooms, on the basis of group consensus and peer accountability.
“And the data backs it up, our repayment rate is 99.5%,” Himanshu Sharma says. “Try getting that in formal banking, or even in microfinance.”
That single statistic underlines both financial discipline and emotional stake. “These women don’t see this as the government’s money. It’s their group’s capital. That’s why they protect it,” Himanshu Sharma says.
To reinforce that capital base, each group is initially provided a seed grant of Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000. As groups mature, they gain access to larger Community Investment Funds of up to Rs 1.5 lakh. Many members, he notes, now borrow Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000 at a time and repay within weeks.
Building credit histories from scratch
JEEViKA is also pushing women from the informal to the formal financial system, many for the first time in their families.
“Most of these women had never entered a bank five years ago. Today, many are formal borrowers. Some are accessing credit that rivals what MSMEs get,” Himanshu Sharma says.
The government is now working on building individualised credit histories linked to Aadhaar and bank accounts, turning group trust into institutional recognition.
As SHGs matured and capital deepened, JEEViKA’s mandate expanded into enterprise. The programme now incubates over 70 women-led producer companies across agriculture, dairy, handicrafts, weaving, food services, and more.
“These aren’t token projects. Some of these companies are growing fast and professionally governed,” Himanshu Sharma says. Many have women on their boards, running operations, and managing logistics and procurement.
One of its most visible innovations is Didi Ki Rasoi, which are canteens operated by JEEViKA members in public hospitals and institutions, serving thousands of meals daily.
Another is Bank Sakhis, women trained as banking correspondents, delivering financial services in remote villages. During COVID-19 lockdowns, Bank Sakhis processed over Rs 300 crore in transactions when bank branches were shut.
A silent economy
JEEViKA estimates the total economic footprint of its SHGs — accounting for savings, lending, business income, and reinvestment — is now over Rs 1 lakh crore. “This is Bihar’s silent economy,” he says.
Stories from the ground confirm it.
Take for instance, Parvati Devi, a SHG member in Gaya district, joined JEEViKA in 2014. “Before this, I didn’t even know how to talk to people. Now I run a business,” she says. Her family, once dependent on seasonal labour, now earns steady income from livestock rearing and food processing. “My husband used to earn Rs 3,000 a month. Now it’s Rs 30,000,” she says proudly.
Another member from Bhagalpur recalls being told by her husband that SHG meetings were “a waste of time.” Today, she runs a tailoring unit with five machines and employs two other women. Her children attend private school.
Women-led governance at scale
JEEViKA is perhaps one of the largest examples of decentralised, women-led governance in India. Every SHG elects its own leaders. Village organisations coordinate between groups. Cluster-Level Federations handle procurement, training, and conflict resolution.
This three-tier system isn’t just financial—it also works on health, nutrition, gender sensitisation, and social inclusion. JEEViKA women run campaigns against child marriage, dowry, and gender violence. Many now contest panchayat elections, becoming Sarpanches and ward members.
“We didn’t expect this in the beginning,” Himanshu Sharma admits. “But when women gain financial confidence, they demand a voice. That’s what we’re seeing.”
The next frontiers: Gender, technology, and market access
Despite its scale, Himanshu is candid about the challenges ahead. “We’re seeing worrying signs in Bihar’s child sex ratio, which has declined. That tells us economic progress doesn’t automatically fix social attitudes,” Himanshu Sharma says.
The next phase of JEEViKA will focus more on gender rights, digital literacy, and direct market access, helping producer companies access e-commerce platforms and value chains.
There’s also a push to integrate more youth, especially daughters of SHG members, into the model through training in entrepreneurship, bookkeeping, digital payments, and fintech tools.
Despite JEEViKA’s success, he is cautious about treating it as a plug-and-play model for other states. “It’s not just about the programme design. It requires political commitment, bureaucratic stability, and community ownership things you can’t replicate with just a budget,” Himanshu Sharma says.
JEEViKA isn’t flashy. It doesn’t depend on subsidies, giveaways, or CSR donations. It is disciplined, data-backed, and self-sustaining, a model that treats poor women not as beneficiaries, but as economic agents.
“The women aren’t asking for freebies,” Himanshu Sharma says. “They’re asking for loans. And they’re proud to repay them. That’s what real empowerment looks like.”
